Peter Nightingale, the University of Rhode Island physics professor arrested during a civil disobedience sit-in at Senator Sheldon Whitehouse’s Providence office last December, left court today after settling all charges by agreeing to pay a $300 fine.

Shortly after the court decision, at a press conference held outside the Garrahy Court Complex, Nightingale reiterated the science behind his position, saying that when he thinks about the future, “and my grandchildren in particular, I do not know how to explain the destruction we are visiting upon the Earth they shall inherit.”

Citing studies from scientific journals, Nightingale notes that “shale gas and conventional natural gas have a larger GHG (greenhouse gas footprint) than coal or oil.” The United States policy of fracked gas as a bridge fuel, say Nightingale, “flies in the face of this science.”

Nightingale further maintains that “the US is not acting according to this science and is in violation of Article 3 of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which states that “The Parties should protect the climate system for the benefit of present and future generations of humankind, on the basis of equity and in accordance with their common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities.” and that therefore all three branches of our government are delinquent in their fiduciary duty to safeguard the natural resources they hold in trust for present and future generations.

Also speaking at the press conference was Sherrie Andre, who noted that Spectra is trying to break its “massive pipeline project into smaller pieces,” so that it won’t seem to be much of an environmental concern. “But in reality this is a $5 billion project being built to export gas out of Canada and to hook New England on fossil fuels.” It has nothing to do with energy independence for Rhode Island.

Andre says that “environmental impacts must be considered cumulatively and federal law is clear on this.” She says that 27 groups have signed a letter exposing this “impermissible segmentation” and urging that the law be followed.

The last speaker at the press conference was Nick Katkevich of FANG, (Fighting Against Natural Gas). Katkevich announced that the groups are planning a 26 mile walk from Burrillville to Providence during the first week of March, regardless of the weather. He also noted that 350 Connecticut plans to protest outside Yale University on February 28 where Senator Whitehouse is scheduled to speak to the Environmental Law Conference.

Katkevich promised that even if the Spectra pipeline expansion is approved, that will not end FANG’s commitment to stopping it. “Federal approval of this project does not mean permission from the people. So we’re going to continue to use diverse, non-violent tactics to make sure that this project is not built.”

When the year 2014 expired on December 31, so did Warwick Senator William Walaska’s membership in the American Legislative Exchange Council, a once-controversial right-wing bill mill that partnered corporate interests with state lawmakers to draft conservative model legislation to be shopped to Statehouses across the country.

Walaska, a Democrat, was the last local legislator who was an ALEC member – and the only one to renew membership since 2012. His lapsed membership means that the Rhode Island State House will not receive any copies of ALEC’s monthly magazine.

“We do not get their literature any more since we have no members any longer,” said House spokesman Larry Berman.

Nationally ALEC membership dropped 5.6 percent from 2011 to 2013, according to internal ALEC information leaked by first released by The Guardian (p.37). Jay Riestenberg, a researcher for Common Cause, said ALEC has likely picked up some new legislators in 2014 because of a “historic number of Republican state legislators in office.”

Riestenberg said some of the corporate money that has been divested from ALEC has matriculated to the State Policy Network and cited Microsoft, Facebook and Kraft as examples. The State Policy Network, or SPN, is funded by corporations and Koch-aligned special interests to push conservative ideology at the state level. PR Watch has pushed a campaign linking SPN and ALEC saying it is a right wing think tank pushing the ALEC agenda in the states.

“The RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity and ALEC, as part of their respective missions, each seek to advance market-based policy ideas that have a track-record of success in other states,” he said. “ALEC is also a close national partner of SPN, the national association of which our Center is a member. SPN has been very helpful over the years in helping our Center put together strategic operating plans, in getting us pointed in the right direction in our formative years, in making us aware of certain RFP grant opportunities, and by continuing to sponsor participation in highly valuable public policy and organizational development regional and national workshops.”

Rhode Island Hospital employees represented by the Teamsters Local 251 voted to authorize a strike Wednesday.

“Rhode Island Hospital employees have sent a clear message,” said Teamsters Local 251 President Paul Santos. “It’s time for Lifespan to listen to the employees and the community and agree to common-sense proposals for good jobs and quality care.”

An FAQ sheet sent to union members and the media says the vote doesn’t mean there will be a strike – but it does move the 2,200 hospital employees one step closer to that. “Voting to authorize a strike notice does not mean we will issue a 10-day notice right away,” it reads.

According to a press release from Jobs With Justice sent late last night, “Sticking points in negotiations include job security, fair wage increases and retirement benefits, and Lifespan’s rejection of proposals to address unsafe staffing and equipment and supply shortages that undermine patient care.”

According to an FAQ sent by Rhode Island Hospital, “the hospital wants to make it clear that neither a strike nor the threat of a strike will make bargaining more productive nor will it force the hospital to take any action that it does not believe is in the best interest of its patients, employees or the hospital.”

In a statement, hospital spokeswoman Beth Bailey said, “The vote process came despite recent movement by the hospital on key wage and benefit proposals. The initial union proposals called for more than $20 million in wage and benefit increases, an amount that is unsustainable in the current healthcare environment. The union proposals included: wage increases twice the hospital average, additional hospital contributions to health insurance, a second retirement plan, and additional vacation days, among other requests. The hospital responded with proposals that increase wages for all three years of the contract … the hospital is not asking the union for any give-backs for wages, retirement or benefits.”

According to a press release from the union, “Sticking points in negotiations include job security, fair wage increases and retirement benefits, and Lifespan’s rejection of proposals to address unsafe staffing and equipment and supply shortages that undermine patient care. Lifespan executives have angered employees and the community by rejecting common-sense proposals, including a proposal to require the Hospital to ‘maintain sufficient staff and adequate supplies.'”

Local 251 represents 2,200 employees at Rhode Island Hospital, including non-medical staff, such as secretaries, janitors and landscapers. “But they also represent the unit assistants, the folks who check on patients to make sure everything’s okay, and the CNAs,” said Jesse Strecker of Jobs With Justice.

“This campaign is about workers and the community working together for a better Lifespan,” Strecker said. “The overwhelming vote shows that workers are sticking together and the community will stick with them.”

West Warwick Town Councilor Angelo Padula made incendiary comments about Muslims at a public meeting in May of 2013.

The city emergency manager director was informing the Town Council about a seminar on how explosives work, said town councilors, to which Padula said, “We’re not going to invite any Muslims?”

Some in the crowd laughed and others applauded.

In an interview tonight with RI Future, Padula said he apologized later in the meeting. As the video indicates, he did not apologize when asked by Town Councilor David Kenahan.

“I said at the end of the meeting, ‘if anyone finds this offensive I apologize,” Padula told me, noting a fuller video of the meeting would show this. “It was nothing against the good Muslim people of this country. I meant the Muslims who bombed Boston. I meant this about the terrorists and nobody else. I in now way meant this to discriminate or against the whole Muslim faith.”

Town Council David Kenahan is the voice in the video asking Pedula to apologize. A physics teacher at Cumberland High School, Kenahan said in an interview tonight, “I thought it was inappropriate and offensive. As a Council we speak as a group and I didn’t think it was fair that we would get lumped in with that.”

A protest outside the upscale downtown Providence deli Gourmet Heaven was scheduled for the same day that three workers filed a case in district court for non-payment of wages. Six more workers are expected to join the case later this week, alleging a total of $140,000 in unpaid wages over two years. The workers have organized through Fuerza Laboral and Rhode Island Jobs with Justice.

As they did during their last protest back in December, workers and protesters entered the restaurant to confront management about the unpaid wages. This time store manager Mohamed Masoud was in the store, but he declined to comment to the press. The police arrived quickly and moved the 30-40 protesters outside and onto the sidewalk without incident.

Outside the protesters picketed and chanted for about 30 minutes. Passersby were handed flyers informing them of the working conditions at the restaurant. The police were vigilant in making sure there was ample room for pedestrians to get through the picket line, at one point picking up my video camera and moving it, even though there was a four foot wide path available.

The highlight of the protest was some “street theater” in which former employees acted out the experience of being hired by Chung Cho, the owner of Gourmet Heaven, which started off with promises and handshakes, but soon devolved into physical abuse, unsafe working conniptions and stolen wages. The scene ended with Cho and his manager, Masoud, being hounded down the street by an angry mob of workers.

In Connecticut, Cho reached an agreement with the [Connecticut] Department of Labor to pay $140,000 in back wages to 25 workers, but has so far not made his payments in a timely manner. Former employees of the two Gourmet Heaven stores in New Haven, CT have already filed suit against Cho in federal court in Connecticut for wage theft at the New Haven locations.

“The only way for Cho to pay workers what he stole from them is for us to bring this to the public and let his clients know what labor rights abuses were going on at this store,” said Jesse Strecker, Executive Director of RI Jobs with Justice in a statement. “Since Cho has not given any response to the [RI] Department of Labor and Training or to us, we are filing in the courts and continuing our public protest.”

A December 2014 report by the US Department of Labor determined that wage theft in New York and California amounted to between $1.6 and $2.5 billion dollar a year and that “…affected employees’ lost weekly wages averaged 37–49 percent of their income.”

Donna Nesselbush has introduced legislation in the Rhode Island State Senate that would increase the penalties for wage theft, and give more options to workers seeking lost wages. In the press release for today’s action Nesselbush says, “Theft of any kind is wrong, but wage theft is particularly disturbing because it is often perpetrated against the most vulnerable in our society, those who need their wages the most, even to survive.”

I live-tweeted the experience of getting a state ID sometimes under the hashtag #Paisleygate, a joke on the fact that I wore the same weird paisley shirt to get my last ID in Pennsylvania as I did when I went to get my Rhode Island ID earlier this week. But the broken process of getting a state ID card if you aren’t a driver or already a Rhode Islander is no joke.

Today I'm getting my non-drivers' ID, and I wanted to wear the same Mardi Gras paisley as I did last time. pic.twitter.com/U8KacRQGRq

It took me two separate bus trips to-and-from the Pastore Center in Cranston from where I live in Providence. This was after a year of wrangling to get other pieces of paperwork like an original of my birth certificate – I only had copies – which are difficult to obtain without a valid ID.

I am a failed human being. My paperwork is wrong so I have to go back to PVD, get the right stuff, and return. Voter IDs are hard…

1. You cannot get a non-drivers’ state ID from any of the in-city locations. You have to go to the John Pastore Center on the Cranston/Warwick line, which for non-drivers is quite a hike on an infrequent bus. The clerk at the DMV made it clear to me that if I had been a driver and had a drivers license that was expired, it would have been no problem for me to use it as a supporting document, but that because I only had a non-drivers’ ID, I couldn’t. Location and process are really tilted against non-drivers.

I would love to skip the multiple bus trips & fix this at the place near KP, but foreigners from out-of-state cannot.

2. The cost of the ID itself is pretty significant: $26.50, with a $1.50 charge if you use a debit card. The cost of a drivers’ license is somewhat higher, but the gap is pretty small. There was a great analysis of how many states have an apparent gas tax, which is then exempt from sales tax, and how this exemption inflates the value of the gas tax. The cost to get a drivers license should be looked at in the same way, since the base cost for an ID is so high. An ID fee is like a sales tax–maybe worse, really–because it charges people for the basic cost of being part of the workforce or voting, whereas a license fee presumably covers the cost of testing and administering road safety.

3. You must have originals! Don’t even bother trying to talk your way into a voter ID with photocopies, even if they’re accompanied by other documents, like college IDs, FBI background checks, BCIs, Medicaid cards, library cards, etc.

4. As a Warden of Elections, I’ve been instructed many times at trainings to turn away people with IDs that are unexpired and valid but not from Rhode Island, even if those people have corresponding documents to prove their Rhode Island addresses.

Note to self: FBI background check papers *do not qualify* you to vote or drink, only to teach.

5. Unless you have everything together perfectly, this whole process is going to cost you a lot of time. I’ve had copies of things like my birth certificate lying around the house for years for whenever I’ve had to start a job, but since I had to get an original, and didn’t have a non-expired ID, it took me about a year and a lot of interventions from family to get the new stuff in order. And because of the remote location of the Pastore Center, getting an ID as a non-driver means essentially taking a day off. The Center also closes at 3:15 PM, which is kind of ridiculous too. I brought the wrong paperwork the first time, so I actually made two trips back-and-forth by bus, racing against time with the ridiculous closing time and infrequent bus schedule.

Armed w/appropriate paperwork & requisite change, our protagonist marches out. Will he make it before the 3:30 DMV closing time?!!!

1. A state ID should be available in urban locations. There are centers where one can go to renew existing IDs, but not to get new ones.

2. A state ID from someplace else should be as useful to getting a new ID as a drivers’ license from somewhere else is. This distinction is inequitable, and silly.

3. State IDs should be free.

4. Duplicates should be allowed, or at least a broader array of paperwork types.

5. One should be able to get an ID at night or on weekends. The Pastore Center closes at 3:15 PM! Possibly changing the ID process so that it isn’t taken on by the DMV would make sense, since identification for voting and working purposes is an entirely separate thing than driving.

The voter ID process and documentation needed for working has been something I’ve been aware of intellectually for some time, but going through the process really changed my perspective on it in ways that I didn’t expect. We have to change this if we’re going to stop disenfranchising people year after year.

“Lifespan executives have angered employees and the community by rejecting common-sense proposals, including a proposal to require the Hospital to “maintain sufficient staff and adequate supplies,” said the press release. “Lifespan even rejected a proposal that, “providing quality care to patients and their families is the top objective of the Hospital and that poor working conditions, inadequate staffing levels, inadequate supplies, and improper equipment undermine quality care.”

Rhode Island Hospital Senior Media Relations Officer Beth Bailey said, “We are committed to bargaining in good faith toward a fair labor agreement that reflects the positive contributions of our employees. Our proposals to date have included increases to wages for all three years of the contract and shift differentials, and a comprehensive plan to help union employees impacted by technology changes. We are confident in the quality of the care we provide and the investments we have made in technology, equipment and staff to support the delivery of quality care.”

Local 251 represents 2,200 employees at Rhode Island Hospital, including non-medical staff, such as secretaries, janitors and landscapers. “But they also represent the unit assistants, the folks who check on patients to make sure everything’s okay, and the CNAs,” said Strecker. He said he had no idea how many people would show up for the vote. “We hope lots!”

Tomorrow’s vote is one step in the process of calling for a labor strike, said Jess Strecker of Jobs With Justice.

“It’s an authorization vote,” he said in an email subsequent to sending the press release. “The contract negotiating committee will then make the final call about when or whether to strike. Then they would actually give a 10 day notice to Lifespan before going out on strike. The strike could last as long or as shortly as it has to.”

A FAQ sheet sent from Local 251 to the 2,200 members said, “Voting to authorize a strike notice does not mean we will issue a 10-day notice right away. We will continue to negotiate and try to reach a fair agreement. A strong Yes Vote will send a message of unity to the Hospital and give the Negotiating Committee more leverage to win a fair contract. A No Vote would send management the message that we are not united. Management would have very little reason to make a fair contract offer.”

The FAQ says, “The bottom line is there can be no strike without a second vote by members to go on strike.”

Kathy Ahlquist, says the press release, “blames understaffing for her father’s medical tragedy.” Kathy is the wife of RI Future contributor Steve Ahlquist, who has reported on some of the previous employee actions as a new contract was in negotiation.

Security camera footage from the Islamic School of Rhode Island taken the night hate-filled anti-Islam graffiti was spray painted on the school shows at least one adult man, said West Warwick Police Major John Mageira.

“It doesn’t appear to be juveniles,” Mageira said after a press conference at the school on Tuesday.

FBI agent Elizabeth Rosato said her office is “conducting the civil rights investigation right now.” US Attorney Peter Neronha said,”if the conduct is motivated based on ethnicity or race or other protected classes it’s considered to be a hate crime.” To Nerhona’s knowledge, this is the first instance of a hate crime against the Islamic community in Rhode Island.

Law enforcement officers answered questions for the media after a group of religious and other faith leaders gave prepared comments to show solidarity with the Muslim school that was defaced by vandalism after holding a vigil for the three North Carolina Muslims who were killed last week.

“I just want this person to understand how much this hurts,” said Himly Bakri, president of the board of trustees of the Islamic School of Rhode Island, as he was flanked by faith leaders during the press conference.

“To the person who did this, I want to say this to him, or her, we have nothing but prayers for you,” said Mufti Ikram, a Muslim imam, or prayer leader, from Smithfield who works closely with the school. “If you did this to divide us, you failed miserably. If you did this to unite us, you have succeeded.”

They were joined by Rev. Nickolas Knisely, bishop of the Episcopal Church in Rhode Island, Rev. Don Anderson, of the Rhode Island Council of Churches, Steve Ahlquist, president of the Humanists of Rhode Island and Rabbi Sarah Mack, who called the vandalism a “flagrant desecration.”

Outside the school’s gymnasium in West Warwick, there was still spray-painted vandalism on the school that read, “Islam pigs”, “Allah is a pedophile”, “Fuck Muhammad” and “Now this is a hate crime.” One message said “Die pigs” and was written backwards on a window so it could be read from inside the school.” [Pictures below]

“When I was physically here seeing the graffiti on the doors, words can’t describe,” Bakri told me after the press conference. “It had a very personal impact to me. It’s one thing to be distant and seeing something in a picture. It’s another thing to be physically present and seeing the writing of someone who did this. It was just unbelievable.”

There are 160 students at the Islamic School of Rhode Island, which serves students in kindergarten through 8th grade. It’s been in Rhode Island for ten years and became accredited last year. Bakrim said this is the first time the school experienced any such issues.

“It was a complete surprise to everybody,” he said. “For our students I hope they come out of this knowing this is the kind of world that exists today unfortunately, and that they come out wiser and learn how to handle this and hopefully learn from all of us here today … that we should all work together to be on the forefront of stopping this where ever it happens.”

Governor Gina Raimondo said yesterday, “Rhode Island was founded on the tolerance of all beliefs. This hateful act at the Islamic School of Rhode Island has no place in our state. My thoughts and support are with the school and the Muslim community in RI today.”

Senator Jack Reed said, “I strongly condemn the vandalism of the Islamic School of Rhode Island. Our state was founded on religious freedom and we are strengthened by our diversity. There is no justification and no place for this type of intolerance and bigotry in our community. I urge anyone with information about the incident to contact the proper authorities.”

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse said, “This shameful incident is completely at odds with our state’s founding principles, and I hope the perpetrators will soon be brought to justice. To the families and staff who were affected, please know that Rhode Island stands with you and supports you.”

On a cold day in December, bus monitor Michele Schenck may have saved the life of Bill Jiacovelli as he waited with his 10 year old daughter Giovanna for the bus.

As he does most mornings before heading off to work, East Side dad Jiacovelli drove his daughter Giovanna to her bus stop on Hope St, keeping the heat on in the car as they waited for the bus. When the bus arrived, Bill got out of the car as Giovanna got onto the bus, escorted by Schenck, a bus monitor who has been on the job for 22 years.

As Bill got out of his car on this particular day, Schenck noticed he, “trembled a little bit and needed to lean on the car a little bit.”

Schenck asked Bill if he was feeling all right, but Bill dismissed her concerns, saying, “Oh, I just got dizzy.”

Schenck wasn’t convinced. She asked asked another parent to look after Bill while she made sure all the kids were safe so that the bus could get underway. Though Bill had dismissed her concerns, Schenck couldn’t let it go. “I know how men are,” she said to me, “They brush things like this off really quick. By the time he gets home, he’s not going to even tell [his wife] Polly that anything was wrong.”

Schenck asked Giovanna if she knew her mom’s number. Schenck called Polly and expressed her concerns. “I had to make the call short and quick, because I had to look after the kids on the bus.”

Polly immediately called Bill’s doctor and arranged a visit over Bill’s protestations. Doctor Rosenberg found that Bill had a previously undiagnosed AFib heart condition that put him at serious risk of a stroke. Had Bill not been admitted to the hospital that morning, he might have died.

Looking back, Bill now realizes that his condition was worse than he was willing to admit.

When Schenck returned to the bus stop to drop off Giovanna that afternoon, Polly was waiting with “a big bouquet of flowers” and a teary eyed hug. Polly told an amazed Schenck that she had saved Bill’s life.

“The bus monitors do amazing work,” Polly told me, “My daughter has a severe nut allergy, so Michele is always making sure that the kids aren’t bringing snacks on the bus that might hurt her. Other kids have asthma or other medical conditions. Michele has to break up fights between kids. Never mind that she makes sure that no kid gets left behind or run over.”

“The cars on Hope St. go way too fast,” continued Polly, “cars are always blowing past the bus, putting kids at risk. Since the incident with Bill I get misty eyed every time I see Michele look under the bus to make sure it’s clear of children.”

After 22 years on the job, Michele Schenck makes $11.44 an hour. Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza is considering privatizing the bus monitors in an effort to cut costs, but the bids from Ocean State Transit and First Student, the only two bidders for the bus monitor contract, are in the $30 range. It’s hard to know where the city intends to see any savings with that kind of math.

Meanwhile, a petition has begun circulating online asking Elorza to fulfill his “campaign promise to stand with working families” and “oppose the privatization of Providence’s bus monitors.” According to the petition, the job of bus monitor was “created after the tragic accidental death of a student in 1985. There had been at least one fatal student death each year from 1979 until monitors were mandated — and since then there hasn’t been a single one while a monitor was on duty.”

Bill Jiacovelli is out of the hospital and on medication for his heart condition. Thanks to bus monitor Michele Schenck, his daughter still has a father to bring her to the bus stop every morning.

“I’m working,” said Schenck, “but I’m paying attention. What I did I would do for all the people on my route. We see each other every day. I watch their kids. We’re like a family.”

“Rhode Island was founded on the tolerance of all beliefs,” Raimondo said in a statement. “This hateful act at the Islamic School of Rhode Island has no place in our state. My thoughts and support are with the school and the Muslim community in RI today.”

The RI Chapter of the Progressive Democrats of America (RI PDA) strongly condemns the vandalism of the Islamic School of Rhode Island. This hateful act does not represent the people of our great state, founded by Roger Williams on principles of religious tolerance. We wish to express solidarity with our fellow Rhode Islanders who stand against bigotry and encourage anyone with information on this intolerable vandalism to contact the West Warwick police at 401-821-4323 or via the TIP LINE.

“Now this is a hate crime,” said a graffiti on the front door of the Islamic School of Rhode Island. The vandalism appeared a day after the school held a vigil for three Muslim students who were killed in north Carolina last week, reports the Providence Journal.

In response to the vandalism, the Humanists of Rhode Island released this statement, which puts the vandalism that happened here in Rhode Island in the context of recent hate crimes against Muslim Americans:

The Humanists of Rhode Island (HRI) decry the recent vandalism of the Islamic School of Rhode Island. We wish to join our voices with the chorus of citizens, religious or not, denouncing violence and hate crimes that serve only to divide our community.

Steve Ahlquist, President of the Humanists of Rhode Island, said, “Roger Williams, the founder of our state, expressly invited all people of good conscience to participate in our secular government, regardless of their religious beliefs. Ours was the first democratic government to expressly invite Pagans, Jews, Muslims and atheists to be free citizens in the new world. This is our heritage. It is a legacy we should protect and be proud of.”

The Humanists of Rhode Island believe that recent events, such the murder of the three Muslim students in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, the burning of the Islamic School in Houston, Texas and now the vandalism of the Islamic School here in Rhode Island, demonstrate the need for a renewed commitment to our values of inclusion, freedom of conscience, and civil discourse.

In this spirit, the Humanists of Rhode Island stand in solidarity with the Islamic community to oppose hate and violence.

Is the Rhode Island General Assembly hopelessly corrupt? This is the question former Woonsocket legislator Jon Brien, Bill Rappleye and I debate this week on NBC 10 News Conference’s Wingmen segment this week. Rep. Joe Almeida aside, some of what I see as corruption is “all perfectly legal,” says Brien, who gives us a great look behind the State House curtain this week as we discuss Speaker Mattiello, payday loan reform and former Speaker Bill Murphy and how “politics as usual” works on Smith Hill.

Moynihan is the CEO of Bank of America, an institution suffering from an abundance of controversies. The lecture series “was founded to provide an open forum on the intersection between religion and politics” and in the past has hosted Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Elaine Pagels. Moynihan was invited to talk about his philanthropic work in the context of being the CEO of one of the most powerful financial institutions in the world. The event was billed as a discussion about “the role of philanthropy and corporate social responsibility” in today’s society.

Outside the Central Congregational Church where the event was held, police shooed away peaceful protesters handing out informational flyers critical of Moynihan and Bank of America. The Brown Student Labor Alliance’s Stoni Tomson sent a letter acknowledging the churches “best intentions” in inviting Moynihan while decrying “Bank of America’s track record of predatory lending schemes that targeted people of color which directly contributed to the financial crisis of 2008, the financing of ecocidal practices like mountaintop removal mining, and the exploitative treatment of its call-center workers.”

Tomson said, “We believe that Moynihan’s lecture on Corporate Social Responsibility will inevitably be fraught with hypocrisy that effectively makes congregation members pawns in a Bank of America Public Relations Stunt.”

The interview conducted by Darrell West avoided negativity and focused on Moynihan’s philanthropic efforts in Haiti, and the questions too often allowed Moynihan to deliver corporate spiels that sounded more like advertisements for Bank of America than serious considerations of the issues involved. For instance, in answer to a question regarding the controversial nature of large financial institutions like Bank of America in the light of the financial meltdown, Moynihan talked about the excellent ratings the bank receives from satisfied customers, saying “We do lots of customer research. Our customer satisfaction is as high today as it was in 2007.”

Flyer

When asked about the role of faith in his life, Moynihan invoked the Golden Rule in a way I never thought possible when he claimed that the principle of being customer focused in business “is not all that different from treating others as you want to be treated yourself.”

During the question and answer period things got edgier as Central Congregational Church member Paul Armstrong said, “Let me quote a few lines from a press release issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission last August as they settled a $245 million case which was part of a larger $16.5 billion settlement which Bank of America reached with the Department of Justice to resolve various investigations involving violations of laws relating to the sale of toxic mortgage backed securities. The regional director of the SEC’s office said, ‘Bank of America failed to make accurate and complete disclosure to investors and its illegal conduct kept investors in the dark. Requiring an admission of wrongdoing as part of Bank of America’s agreement to resolve the SEC charges filed today provides an additional level of accountability for its violation of the federal securities laws.’

“My question to you is this,” continued Armstrong, “What is the relationship between the illegal conduct the organization you lead has engaged in and your personal philanthropy? Is philanthropy morally tainted if it’s funded by illegal acts? Can philanthropy redeem wrongdoing behind the fortunes you make possible?”

Tough questions, which Moynihan awkwardly sidestepped as he maintained that it would take days to walk the audience through the complexities of the mortgage crisis. He then claimed that Bank of America “ended up trying to help people keep their homes,” before adding “We do lot’s of good work… it’s all consistent with what we do [as a company.]”

The kind of good work Bank of America is known for can be seen in thisHuffington Post piece, where “former employees said they were told to falsify electronic records and string homeowners along in foreclosure as long as possible.” I suppose that’s one way to keep people in their homes.

Moynihan also backed away from accepting a “level of accountability” for Bank of America’s illegal actions, saying that his company only settled with the government because it was the cheaper course of action. “We settled,” said Moynihan, “because it was in the best interest of or customers to do so.”

Armstrong’s question deserves better answers from proponents of corporate philanthropy. Serious questions have been raised about the “charitable industrial complex” with even multi-millionaires such as Peter Buffett, Warren Buffett’s son, asking, “Is progress really Wi-Fi on every street corner? No. It’s when no 13-year-old girl on the planet gets sold for sex. But as long as most folks are patting themselves on the back for charitable acts, we’ve got a perpetual poverty machine. “

Working conditions at the Bank of America call center are so bad there’s an online petition demanding “adequate job training that keeps jobs and customers safe” that everyone reading this should consider signing.

I’d like to believe that Moynihan was invited so as to expose the hypocrisy and self-serving nature of so-called corporate philanthropy, but unfortunately, I think the invitation was sincere, and therefore misguided.

Speaking at a Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce luncheon, Speaker of the House Nicholas Mattiello held court and spoke plainly about his economic priorities for Rhode Island.

Clearly upset thatPolitifactruled false his recent statement in which he denied that there have been tax cuts for the rich in Rhode Island, Mattiello pointed out that when he speaks to his “well-to-do” neighbors, they “don’t see any tax relief.” Then in a gesture more suited to Imperial Rome than to Democratic Rhode Island, Mattiello declared, “That discussion has to stop.”

Mattiello made no secret about his economic priorities: rich people. The real question is why any business interest in Rhode Island bothers to pay lobbyists any more, given that Mattiello has basically said that businesses will get everything they want, from lower taxes to fewer regulations. Says the speaker, “We have to concentrate on the things that are important… Let the business community know that they’re important to us, know that we are going to do the types of things they need to have done.”

No longer will people be the priority in Rhode Island. “We changed the tone,” said Mattiello, “The business community knows that they have priority, they know that they’re important…”

It follows then that people not in the business community do not have priority and are unimportant.

I can’t be the only one who detects a massive dose of hubris when Mattiello says, “I have not made my mind up as to whether or not we’re going to keep it in the state, give it to the federal government and so forth…”

Just in case you need a preview of what to expect as the years roll by under Mattiello’s House leadership, you can rest assured it’s going to be more of the same. “I would support [reducing or eliminating the $500 minimum corporation income tax] and I would support reducing and eliminating other taxes also. There’s a lot of taxes we could reduce or eliminate… I’m not sure that’s it going to be my priority this year, but it’s certainly something that I’m mindful of and it’s something that we ultimately have to address.”

One has to wonder when the General Assembly will get its House in order, and find new leadership.

“The three sectors that contributed most to Rhode Island’s poor relative performance in the region were finance, government, and manufacturing, in that order,” Burke writes. “Had Rhode Island performed only as poorly in each of these latter three sectors as Connecticut, the second-worst-performing state in the region, virtually all of the difference … between Rhode Island and Connecticut in terms of peak-to-trough percentage job losses would have been eliminated.”

It’s well-known that Governor Don Carcieri shrank state government right before the crash. Burke says this didn’t help.

“Rhode Island experienced significantly slower growth in government spending than any other state in the region,” she wrote. “And, over the entire period, Rhode Island had the second-lowest cumulative growth rate in government spending in the region, beating out Maine by only a very small margin. Furthermore, prior to the recession, government spending represented a relatively large share of Rhode Island’s gross state product.”

Like most who muse over this question, Burke cites the loss of manufacturing jobs as a contributing factor – though she says globalization was already doing a number on that sector. “The state’s steep manufacturing losses most likely contained a large structural component that was already in force prior to the recession.”

You can see in this chart that unemployment was somewhat steady as manufacturing was steadily dipping, and that unemployment spiked when construction sank.

But there was something to Rhode Island’s relatively uneducated manufacturing sector that didn’t bode well for them when the recession hit.

“…Rhode Island had by far the highest pre-recession concentration of high-school dropouts in its manufacturing sector among the New England states,” Burke writes. “At the national level, high school dropouts in manufacturing were not especially vulnerable to job losses as compared with other manufacturing employees. Therefore, Rhode Island’s high concentration of dropouts in manufacturing, all else being equal, would not have predicted an excess of total manufacturing job losses. However, high school dropouts in Rhode Island’s manufacturing sector experienced job losses in the recession at a rate close to three times the national rate and contributed a full one-third of Rhode Island’s manufacturing job losses, a larger share than in any other New England state.”

Of course, globalization, shrinking government, and a poorly-educated workforce didn’t cause the Great Recession all by themselves. “…the housing bust was stronger in Rhode Island than in any other New England state except Connecticut,” writes Burke.

And the housing bubble, which precluded and ultimately led to the housing burst, was doing a fairly decent job of hiding the damage done to the state’s economy from the flight of manufacturing. When the construction workers started looking for new jobs, things got real bad for the manufacturing workers.

“Once construction activity began to plummet in Rhode Island, displaced manufacturing workers had far worse re-employment prospects than during the construction boom,” she writes.

That was then. Burke says there’s now some reason for optimism. Though I’m inherently skeptical of anything that takes this level of economist-speak to explain. She writes,

“If we compute the fraction of total employment losses (peak-to-trough) that have since been recovered — by taking the difference between the peak-to-trough percentage change in employment and the peak-to-current percentage change inemployment and dividing this difference by the peak-to-trough percentage change — Rhode Island ranks last in the region. However, in terms of jobs recovered since the trough in terms of raw percentage points in relation to the pre-recession peak employment level in a given state — which is the absolute value of the raw difference described in the preceding sentence — Rhode Island ranks second-best.”

In layman’s terms, you can crunch the numbers both ways. But what’s interesting is the report indicates that while the Providence metro area (from roughly Warwick to Fall River) helped the state as a whole fall into the recession, it hasn’t been helping it climb out.

“Providence also places second-last (again behind Norwich) in terms of trough-to-current employment change, even though Rhode Island placed second-best on this score among New England states. Since the trough, then, Rhode Island’s relatively strong performance belies the relative performance of the Providence” area.

He and Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn, both former state attorneys general, announced yesterday the CORRECTIONS Act, or the Corrections Oversight, Recidivism Reduction, and Eliminating Costs for Taxpayers in Our National System Act. This bill the, two senators say, will reduce both the cost of prisons and recidivism for inmate all over America.

“Our bill is built on the simple premise that when inmates are better prepared to re-enter communities, they are less likely to commit crimes after they are released – and that is in all of our interests,” Whitehouse said in a press release. This bill will be formally introduced today.

And what’s even better – the bill is based on a successful program run right here in Rhode Island.

“As a former state and federal prosecutor, I recognize that there are no easy solutions to overflowing prison populations and skyrocketing corrections spending,” said Whitehouse. “But states like Rhode Island have shown that it is possible to cut prison costs while making the public safer.”

The Whitehouse/Cornyn bill would allow some inmates to earn time off their sentences for participating in programs that reduce recidivism. Whitehouse staff says the concept is based on successful programs implemented by A.T. Wall, director of the department of corrections in Rhode Island, and shared this op/ed authored by Whitehouse and this article authored by A.T. Wall.

“Rhode Island’s experience shows that debates over correctional policy need not pit public protection against the costs of incarceration,” wrote Wall in his article on how the Ocean State reduced costs and recidivism. “Although corrections is a particularly volatile component of the public domain, a careful process, I shaped by evidence and conducted among thoughtful leaders with the requisite political will, can yield a balance that respects both fiscal responsibility and public safety.”

“I don’t necessarily agree it should be a felony,” said Anthony Capezza, state director International Brotherhood of Police Officers. He also conceded that the bill is more broadly written than need be. “I agree, it’s broadly written, where somebody just an individual standing in the street, could be charged under this.”

Of the 19 people who testified only Sen. Lou Raptakis said a felony conviction was warranted for protesting on a highway.

In spite of obvious public interest in the proposed legislation (the hearing was covered by RI Future, RIPR and the Providence Journal), legislators chose not to broadcast it on Capitol TV. For those interested, Steve Ahlquist recorded the entire meeting and what follows is video clips of all the public testimony.

It’s inevitable. I am anticipating that one of the many shrewd companies in the “education reform” business will roll out a chain of charter schools for unvaccinated kids.

Why should parents have to produce proof of immunization before their little darlings are admitted to public school when they have the “freedom of choice” to send them to a school more consistent with their beliefs.

If ever there were two “movements” that are destined for merger, it’s the anti-vaxxers and the school choice mobs.

They are linked by the belief that personal “choice,” even when it is not justified by facts or logic, trumps the public interest. They are also linked by total indifference to the costs and consequences their choices have on everyone else.

Each group claims the moral high ground, flying the banner of “freedom of choice.” Yet what they really want is the privilege of making their choice without consequence or cost to themselves. They expect the rest of us to pick up the tab.

This is especially obvious in the so-called “school choice” issue being debated by some in Rhode Island right now. School choice adherents talk as if they don’t already have a choice when in fact they do. For as long as we have had public schools, we have also had private and religious schools.

When I was a child in the 1950s and 60s, my parents wanted me to go to Catholic school, and I did because they had the right to choose, doing twelve years of hard time under the tutelage of nuns and later, the Brothers of the Sacred Heart.

In those days, the parish school didn’t charge for the lower grades, but long-gone Sacred Heart Academy in Central Falls did charge tuition. Because of my parents’ choice, I ended up putting up my earnings from paper routes, bussing tables at local bingo halls and clerking at the local drugstore into my tuition.

I can’t say whether my parents’ choice was the right one or the wrong one, but I do know they made it. And they made it knowing there were going to be costs and consequences.

It’s no different today. Parents still have the same freedom of choice. They can even choose to home school their kids. But the real question behind “school choice” is not the choice itself, but who pays for it.

Chariho vs. charters

Where I live, the Chariho School District (Charlestown, Richmond and Hopkinton) has been in a long-running battle with the Kingston Hill Academy (KHA), refusing to pay to send Chariho students there because Chariho believes KHA cherry-picks students and sends special needs kids back to Chariho. Reliable sources have told me that this has been a long-standing problem at KHA.

As amazing as it seems, these charter advocates were able to argue with a straight face that their “right to choose” should be honored with taxpayer money, even if it pays for an inferior education. After all, I suppose, “school choice” includes the right to make terrible choices.

Chariho’s fight with Kingston Hill goes back at least to 2009 when, according to a sworn statement by Superintendent Ricci, KHA’s principal admitted that KHA would not spend the money to hire a physical therapist and thus would not accept handicapped students whose education plan included physical therapy.

Later, Superintendent Ricci noted there is no sworn statement from KHA contradicting Ricci’s assertion. Click here to read the materials Superintendent Ricci submitted to the state.

Ricci got no sympathy or relief from soon-to-be ex-RI Education Commissioner Deborah Gist. In fact, Gist ruled in favor of Kingston Hill three times. Gist appointed her General Counsel David Abbott to the role of “special visitor” to examine the validity of Ricci’s charges against KHA.

Abbott’s report, submitted to Gist on October 27, 2014, went badly for Ricci. Click here to read that report.

Abbott reported no evidence to support the claims Ricci had made of earlier discrimination by KHA against disabled children, noting that even if he did, “none of the three allegations is dispositive,” given the age of the incidents. Abbott reports that he finds KHA to be currently in compliance with the law.

Even though Ricci lost his battle with KHA when charter school fan Deborah Gist ruled against him and when he couldn’t come up with parents willing to speak up about KHA discrimination.

But that is hardly a vindication for KHA – the verdict is not exactly one of “not guilty,” but more like “not proven.” Nor is it a vindication of charter schools.

Post-Gist public education

Public education is one of the cornerstones of our civil society. We need the best possible public schools we can create. Charter schools only distract attention and resources away from that critical mission. Casting the issue as “school choice” panders to the selfish few who want the rest of us to pay for their personal preferences.

Even though Gist will be leaving Rhode Island soon to take over as school chief in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the odds are that Gov. Gina Raimondo will appoint a new state education commissioner who is even more enraptured with charter schools.

Yes, I’m afraid charter schools are about to undergo a boom in Rhode Island with such as cast of characters running the state.

Public school superintendents have made the point repeatedly that charter schools add an element of unpredictability that make it hard to create budgets, hire staff and maintain the proper infrastructure, and to do that knowing that you must serve all students, including all those who have special needs.

If “school choice” parents as these want a school that offers programs that tickle their fancy, then fine – send your kid there, but with your own money. If you want a school that doesn’t require you to present proof that your kids have had all their shots, then fine – send your kids to “Vaxless Academy” but with your own money, And keep those kids aways from everybody else.

Rep David Bennett’s bill to increase the Rhode Island minimum wage to $10.10 from its current $9 would be the fourth time in four years that the lowest earning Rhode Islanders would see an increase in their pay due to legislative action. Like always, such an increase will not come without a fight.

Last week’s meeting of the House Labor Committee saw five different business lobbying groups send representatives to speak against any increase. During the two hours of testimony, any reason that could be dredged up to oppose increasing the minimum wage was presented – including fear mongering, the citing of questionable studies and downright falsehoods.

Lenette Boisselle, representing the Rhode Island Hospitality Association, suggested that the minimum wage is merely a temporary training wage, and not much used in the state, even though Rep. Bennett just testified that there are 45,000 Rhode Islanders making minimum wage. Boisselle said that we don’t yet know what effects the recently enacted minimum wage increase will have on our state’s economy. Elizabeth Suever, of the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce, agreed with Boisselle and suggested that the state do a study to determine what the appropriate minimum wage should be.

Bob Bacon, who is the chairman of the RI Hospitality Association and runs Gregg’s Restaurants, a small chain of medium priced eateries, maintained that any increase in the minimum wage will force prices to rise, resulting in no advantage for workers. But what minimum wage advocates should really be worried about, according to Bacon, are robots.

“There’s already massive movement towards technology that will eliminate the need for labor,” said Bacon, “In many restaurants now you have touch pads. Guess what’s next? Pretty soon you’re placing your order on that thing and it’s going to take ten less people to serve you your dinner. And McDonald’s has a system now that one guy at the end of the line starts the burger process and it spits out the other end and they eliminated three people in the middle.”

John Simmons, of the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council, did Bacon one better. “There’s been some work done, I think, by McDonald’s, as a matter of fact. In particular, on hamburger making. There is some expertise now that they’re drafting up that there will be no person making hamburgers anymore at McDonald’s. It will be all done by machine.”

That workers demanding fair pay will force industry to develop robots has been the refrain from economic conservatives for a while now. The Wall St. Journal ran a piece called “Minimum Wage Backfire” that blamed business automation on minimum wage activists, writing, “The result of their agitation will be more jobs for machines and fewer for the least skilled workers.” Conservative blogs and other media have run with the story, but there’s no truth in it.

As Patrick Thibodeau points out in Computerworld, “The elimination of jobs because of automation will happen anyway.” Some experts think that robots and computers will “replace one third of all workers by 2025.”

Bob Bacon must know this.

Gregg’s Restaurants is a pioneer in the computerization of restaurants. Most of the millions made by Bill and Ted Fuller, owners of the small chain, has come from POSitouch, “the food service industry’s most feature rich POS system.” I’ve heard rumors that the entire Gregg’s Restaurant chain is a loss leader, maintained to demonstrate the POSitouch system to interested buyers.

If robots were able to do the work needed to replace people in restaurants, POSitouch would be in a position to know. The information Bacon and Simmons presented about the hamburger machine is probably untrue, because if the technology existed to automate the burger making process, McDonald’s would already be using it. Instead, McDonald’s is investing in ordering kiosks, like ATMs in banks or the self-checkout machines at supermarkets. And it’s doubtful that these kiosks could be prevented if the employees agreed to work for less money.

How can any worker live on less than it takes to maintain an iPad?

John Simmons made the additional point that an increase in the minimum wage is basically unnecessary because, if you are on minimum wage then “you are probably getting earned income tax credits, you’re getting Medicare, you’re getting all the social programs which are allowing you to offset all the inflationary issues because you’re not paying for them anymore.”

That’s true. Low wage workers are not paying for all this government assistance. Taxpayers are. Rep Bennett testified that Walmart has nine locations in Rhode Island and pays $9 an hour. Their revenue is $476.3 billion. Rhode Island subsidizes Walmart’s labor costs through social services. Raising the minimum wage would force Walmart to pay its own labor costs, and allow more people to live without government assistance.

Some legislators helped those speaking against the minimum wage with their testimony by lobbing out leading questions, as evidenced by this exchange between Republican Representative AntonioGiarusso and Bob Bacon:

“What is minimum wage?” asked Giarusso, “Is it a living wage, is it somebody just getting out of school, making their way, trying to learn the ropes? Not to put you on the spot, but of all your employees, how many of them are making a minimum wage or something really close to it and are the breadwinners in their households?”

“The breadwinners?” asked Bacon before answering, “Zero.” Two which Giarrusso said with satisfaction, “I thought that would be the answer.”

Penelope Kyritsis, representing RI National Organization for Women, said that approximately 60% of minimum wage workers are women, based on a a report from the National Women’s Law Center. Most of these women have children and no spouse to rely on, meaning that they are the main breadwinners in their family.

A typical minimum wage worker, according to Kyritsis, contrary to popular belief, is not a teenager. The average age of a minimum wage worker is 35, according to the United States Department of Labor, and 88% are at least 20 years old.

If there are any doubts about the cozy relationship between our General Assembly and the business interests in Rhode Island, there’s this exchange I’ve reproduced in comics form.

Right now, business owners and lobbyists have the reigns of the State House. They are pursuing an economic agenda that has only benefited those at the top and almost never those who struggle at the margins.

If low wage workers want fair treatment at the State House, they have to organize and demand it.